MLB Offseason 2013-2014

I think it's Tanaka's option. So basically if he opts out in four years that's probably a good thing, means he's been pitching well (and wants more money, obviously ). If he doesn't opt out then that will likely mean he didn't do so hot.

Well, I was convinced that Project 189 was still a thing, but clearly I was wrong. Good on the Yankees for getting him, but I still think they need a lot more help in their infield.

yeah, his option. 4 years/88M deal with full no-trade, and if he's doing well, he can opt out at age 29 and likely do better than 3 years/67M on the market.

Only a 155M deal if he sucks. With Kershaw getting 30M a year, unlikely he sticks around for 22M a year if he's any good at age 29.

Will have to see if he's worth ANYTHING first before we argue about his next contract, though. Could be another Darvish, or another Igawa. Personally hoping for Igawa, but I'm a dick like that. Would be entertaining to watch the spin on a 22M a year pitcher (for 7 years) who just can't hack it in the MLB. Would likely be able to see the mushroom cloud from here in RI

yeah, his option. 4 years/88M deal with full no-trade, and if he's doing well, he can opt out at age 29 and likely do better than 3 years/67M on the market.

Only a 155M deal if he sucks. With Kershaw getting 30M a year, unlikely he sticks around for 22M a year if he's any good at age 29.

Will have to see if he's worth ANYTHING first before we argue about his next contract, though. Could be another Darvish, or another Igawa. Personally hoping for Igawa, but I'm a dick like that. Would be entertaining to watch the spin on a 22M a year pitcher (for 7 years) who just can't hack it in the MLB. Would likely be able to see the mushroom cloud from here in RI

Click to expand...

That would be the worst for sure. The Yankees have some serious busts on their resume...

Yeah, the funniest part of this to me is that the Yankees made a ton of dumpster-diving moves over the past two years to get under 189: Trading for Vernon Wells and structuring his contract so they paid most of the money last year; Chris Stewart: Starting Catcher; trotting out the corpses of Travis Hafner and Lyle Overbay; giving Phil Hughes and Freddy Garcia about 300 innings; so on and so forth. And this was the only year they could hit the luxury tax reset button, so they will now be paying the 50 percent penalty until the end of the current CBA after the 2016 season.

I mean, it's clear that until now they were on a budget; they were clearly shooting for $189, and the 2011 - 2012 offseasons look awful if you don't believe they were aiming for a budget number. The thing is they missed the playoffs in 2013 and then, shocking no one except Hal Steinbrenner, missing the playoffs meant they lost $50 million in revenue. They also own a stake in YES, which is why their TV deals are always under market value so they can hide revenue from MLB, and the YES ratings were way down, which meant they lost out on sponsorship proceeds. It's pretty patently clear that someone eventually either ran the revenue numbers or beat it into Hal that fielding a dogshit team for the sake of saving a few million dollars per year just didn't make sense.

The Yankees needed to make this move, and good for them, because Sabathia is old, Kuroda is ancient, and the rest of the rotation is dogshit, but it's definitely risky to give $155 million to a guy whose entire career has been throwing to AAAA batters -- he could be a Darvish-level phenom, or he might flame out spectacularly. In any event, it's the fifth-largest contract ever given to a pitcher, and it's for a guy who's never thrown a major league pitch. Bananas. I'm glad the Cubs didn't sign him for that money.

That's a lineup that hit 117 home runs last season, which would put them 27th in the league (and that's being generous by including both Johnson and Nunez; if we're even more generous and give Jeter 11 HR by averaging 2011 and 2012 since he lost almost all of last year, they go all the way up to ... 26th). The infield defense is going to be so, so bad, and they're really going to miss Cano's bat in the lineup. Ellsbury is Carl Crawford 2.0 (no power, plays decent defense, runs really fast, doesn't give you anything else), and offense out of 2B and 3B is going to be a black hole of shit (and Jeter's old and hurt, so God only knows what they'll get out of him). There's still a logjam at DH, too. The bullpen's a mess and the 4 / 5 spots in the rotation are tremendous question marks.

All things considered, I'd probably say that's the third- or fourth-best lineup in the AL East, behind Boston and Toronto and arguably Baltimore, and somewhat better than Tampa Bay.

I think you are way underestimating this batting line up just to drive home your point that Cano is irreplaceable.

I like signing Cervelli, love his energy.

I've heard, not seen numbers, that he turned down more money to play in New York. I know the battle for him was down to NY and the Cubs. Did Theo offer more and Tanaka said he didn't want to play on a team that has no competitive chance anytime soon?

I'm glad we got him. As I said, we have no other way to get a strong young arm with our farm system.

Yep, it's official: Bud Selig has won the Bud Selig Leadership Award! (I had to double check that I wasn't reading The Onion). What a douchebag giving the award to himself; I can't wait for this tool to retire after this year.

Man, save "A-Roid" for talk radio or Rivals.com or some shit. "A-Roid," "Barroid," other cutesy-ass names like that just aren't funny. Anyway, the Yankees clearly knew as far back as December that Rodriguez was going to be getting a lengthy suspension (I said as much when they signed Ellsbury).

I think you are way underestimating this batting line up just to drive home your point that Cano is irreplaceable.

Click to expand...

Let's go through the lineup, then:

Ellsbury -- Runs really fast, no power. Potential injury risk and really needs to learn how to draw walks.
Jeter -- Old, hurt, has exactly one season with an OPS north of .800 since 2008. Defensive liability and power is effectively gone.
Beltran -- Old, hurt, has arthritic and degenerating knees. Good hitter when he's on, but will be 37 and is reaching a point where he can't play every day.
Teixeira -- Aging, hurt (major wrist surgery for a guy who relies on power as his primary hit tool is a huge red flag). Might be decent, might be terrible.
McCann -- I have no complaints about him. Solid hitter who should be in the 3 spot.
Soriano -- Old, power is rapidly diminishing and still swings at pitches that are in New Jersey.
Johnson / Nunez -- Shitty and shitty.
Roberts -- Old, hurt, hasn't played a full season since 2009, concussion history, was objectively one of the worst hitters in all of baseball in 2012.
Gardner -- Decent but not great, very little power, is basically league-average in almost every respect.

This is not a murderer's row. There is no way anyone can say with a straight face that this lineup is better without Cano than with him.

I've heard, not seen numbers, that he turned down more money to play in New York. I know the battle for him was down to NY and the Cubs. Did Theo offer more and Tanaka said he didn't want to play on a team that has no competitive chance anytime soon?

Click to expand...

The Cubs' offer went to $150 million, but it's not known if they included the opt-out. The Dodgers' offer was north of $160, possibly as high as $170 million, but they refused to include an opt-out clause.

I'm glad we got him. As I said, we have no other way to get a strong young arm with our farm system.

Click to expand...

As I said, it's a good move for the Yankees. But if they were going to blow past $189 anyway, they shouldn't have spent the last two years putting together a dumpster fire of an infield and outfield.

Same as it's been since 2012: Keep developing young talent, which takes time. They pretty clearly were betting the farm on getting Tanaka, so I'm sure they need to do a little re-evaluation at this point, but next year's free agent class is pretty deep for pitching, so I don't think it's a huge concern -- and on the off chance Tanaka shits the bed, having him signed to a mammoth deal would seriously set the Cubs back. Baez, Soler and Bryant should be coming up to the majors either this September or in spring 2015, Rizzo should rebound, and they're in wait-and-see mode on Mike Olt and his seeing-eye dog. Organizational turnaround takes time, particularly when you're cleaning up after Jim Hendry, and anyone who expected the Cubs to be contending for the NL Central before 2015 was either high as a kite or functionally stupid.

Interesting as a flier, I guess. Only $750k deal, and competing for a 4th/5th outfielder spot, so not like they need it to work out. Was a stud back before the injury bug bit the shit out of him. Doubt he's got the same upside anymore, but at least interesting as a cheap look and see. If not, can release him with no harm done. Not a starter, most likely, but may still offer something off the bench.

(See, that's how you evaluate retread injured veteran signings. Not just penciling him in for .300/ 30SB / 30HRs )

Interesting as a flier, I guess. Only $750k deal, and competing for a 4th/5th outfielder spot, so not like they need it to work out. Was a stud back before the injury bug bit the shit out of him. Doubt he's got the same upside anymore, but at least interesting as a cheap look and see. If not, can release him with no harm done. Not a starter, most likely, but may still offer something off the bench.

(See, that's how you evaluate retread injured veteran signings. Not just penciling him in for .300/ 30SB / 30HRs )

Click to expand...

He was only a "stud" for 2 years... could have been one of the best in baseball had not the "bug" hit him young.

He was only a "stud" for 2 years... could have been one of the best in baseball had not the "bug" hit him young.

Click to expand...

Sizemore was easily a Top 25 player from 2005 - 2008.

Good sign for the Sox. They must be worried about center field

Click to expand...

Sizemore will be a fourth outfielder; there's no way the Sox are insane enough to count on him as an everyday player. He'll probably be used to spell Jackie Bradley, Jr., since he's still really raw (and has a very troubling strikeout problem) or Victorino. At $750K, it's not exactly an expensive flier to take, but when a guy hasn't played since 2011, you give him a non-roster invitation to spring training, not guaranteed money.